Category: News

According to a new industry report, Spotify has quietly deleted controversial episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” As of this writing, 42 episodes of Rogan’s podcast have reportedly been scrubbed from the platform, and they include everything from right-wing reactionary figures like the Proud Boys who were present during the January 6 insurrection to comedians accused of sexual misconduct with minors. Via Huffpost:

Episodes that have been removed include interviews with far-right figures such as former Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, as well as four episodes with comedian Chris D’Elia, who last year was accused of “grooming” underage girls and soliciting child pornography. Three episodes with Bulletproof Coffee founder Dave Asprey were also deleted from the platform, DMN reported.

Asprey calls himself the “father of biohacking,” and it appears Spotify didn’t want to host his “high-fat diet” that has been roundly criticized for its unscientific methods. However, Spotify did not remove Rogan’s highly controversial interview with Alex Jones from October 2020, which caused significant backlash after Jones spent hours spouting anti-vaccination and anti-mask theories.

Yet while the platform didn’t port over Rogan’s prior interview with the conspiracy theorist, not giving him any trouble over the new episode in the fall was a good sign for the podcast host. During a recent episode in March, Rogan revealed that he’s not concerned with Spotify refusing to host certain episodes as long as they don’t get in his way. “There were a few episodes they didn’t want on their platform, and I was like ‘okay, I don’t care,” Rogan said. “But other than that, in terms of what I do in the future, the big test was having Alex Jones on.”

(Via Digital Music News & Huffpost)

SPOILERS for ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ will be found below.

Man, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier switched gears this week in a huge way and far away from the “buddy comedy” vibe of the introductory phase. I wouldn’t be surprised if that tone came back, but this week turned into a very blunt examination of what happens when heroes go villainous and vice versa. The most prominent and obvious example of this happening would be the climactic moments of Episode 4, called “The Whole World Is Watching,” where the new Captain America, John Walker, basically loses it and vengefully starts pummeling one of the Flag Smashers with the shield.

This confrontation turns fatal with Walker standing over his foe and ruthlessly letting him have it. This ends up being a cold-blooded killing while a crowd films the brutality with their smartphones. So, we’re left with the face of America (and replacement for Steve Rogers) standing there with a bloodied shield for all to see. Not a good look!

The altercation that led up to this moment was an all-out brawl between Sam and Bucky, John and Lemar, and several Flag Smashers. I can’t say that the conflict between the groups has been entirely clear because the Flag Smashers’ cause has remained nebulous with many wondering if they’re villains at all. Well, Karli Morgenthau clashed with Lemar and ended up hurling him into a pillar, instantly killing him. It appears to have been an inadvertent (although inevitable) outcome, and John’s reaction — after all his talk about wanting to be the best runner-up Cap who doesn’t even need the serum to save the world — screwed the proverbial pooch after he decided to inject himself with the damn serum and go mad with power. And yeah, the U.S. government is going to have a lot of explaining to do, after they signal-boosted their own systemic racism by deciding to hand the shield to what seemed like any Rando white dude (although, given US Agent’s history in the comics, this was never going to turn out well).

It’s seriously dark stuff. I would argue that it’s the darkest moment ever in the MCU, which has seen a ton of bleak moments. After all, it’s only been a handful of MCU years since Thanos killed half the universe. Before that, we saw Tony Stark’s parents die, Killmonger take down T’Challa, and many more horrible things. We even saw Thor behead Thanos, although no one could possibly blame him for that. Yet now we are seeing a hero (and someone holding the shield) turn villainous. And it’s also a direct callback to the Captain America: Civil War final battle between Steve and Tony Stark, where Steve used the shield to render Tony powerless and defeat him, but he stopped far short of what John Walker did.

The fallout next week should be enormous, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the show handles dealing with John Walker’s major f*ck-up in front of the world. Before that, we got a few other indications that The Falcon and the Winter Solder might turn into an action-packed meditation on the fine line between hero and villain. One of these scenes — a flashback to Bucky’s time in Wakanda — was incredibly touching. Until now, we’ve only seen glimpses of that period in Bucky’s life, although we know that he was allowed to take refuge in Wakanda and even emerged with a new (vibranium) arm. Yet in this episode, we got to see the moment where Ayo freed Bucky from HYDRA’s Winter Soldier programming. (All of the tears, people.)

Clearly, Bucky’s still been on the road to redemption since that time, and he’s still a work in progress. A ton of lingering trauma is only to be expected after his decades as the homicidally-programmed Winter Soldier, although we saw how he was able to resist Zemo’s attempt to turn him back into a HYDRA-hired gun. Seeing what actually happened to Bucky in Wakanda has been a revelation that the MCU held back for years, and it says a lot that Kevin Feige reserved the moment as a juxtaposition to what’s happening with John Walker. Heroes turning into villains, and villains turning into heroes.

Then there’s the biggest unanswered question for this series to resolve: are the Flag Smashers actually villains or nah? It’s something that the show’s played with to degrees of varying success, and hopefully, we’ll see more followup on whether Karli Morgenthau is a terrorist or a revolutionary. This was a telling moment, though, when Sam pointed out to Karli that she’s a “supremacist,” and she was totally surprised to hear that coming her way. The real-life parallels here are astounding, and I hope we’ll see more.

Disney+ streams new ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ episodes on Fridays.

Concerts can be long events, sometimes running as long as two or three hours. During this time, human biology doesn’t take a break, and whether or not it’s convenient, the call of nature must be answered. A few months ago, Phoebe Bridgers told a story about the time she pooped herself on stage. Now, Kelly Clarkson has shared a similar tale, which didn’t end well for a “poor trash can,” as she put it.

On a recent episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Clarkson was chatting with country music legend Clint Black about his talk show Talking In Circles, and he teased an episode in which country singer Sara Evans talks about peeing on stage. That prompted this instant-classic anecdote from Clarkson:

“Well, I’ll tell you right now, there was one time… it wasn’t pee, my friend! I got some kind of wrecked up from some kind of food and I literally… we were in an arena, and I shouldn’t tell this story, but like I said, my man: I don’t have a filter. I had to run backstage to my quick-change. I grabbed this poor trash can and boy, I destroyed it. It was bad. It was bad, Clint. It was… and we might have to edit this out, but I’m just saying: It happens! What are you supposed to do?”

Watch Clarkson tell the (bowel) moving story above.

Marco Rubio and Donald Trump’s history has been messy, to say the very least. Their 2016 Republican Primary election clashes included Rubio making fun of Trump’s small hands and Trump making fun of Rubio’s height. Rubio went mostly quiet about Trump during his term, although his silent endorsement spoke volumes, and that led to people calling out Rubio for saying nothing about Trump’s racist remarks about COVID-19, which led to a great amount of anti-Asian hate and a wave of hate crimes in the U.S. Still, Rubio is apparently being rewarded (if you can call it that) for rolling over with a “coveted” endorsement for Senate reelection (in Florida) from the former president.

Trump (who can no longer tweet) made the proclamation in old-fashioned form with a statement, via The Hill:

“It is my honor to give U.S. Senator Marco Rubio my Complete and Total Endorsement. Marco has been a tireless advocate for the people of Florida, fighting to cut taxes, supporting our Second Amendment, our Military and our Vets, a strong national defense, and all of the forgotten men and women of America.”

If nothing else, this endorsement puts a final end to those rumors (which led Rubio to freeze up on Fox news when quizzed) that Ivanka planned to challenge Rubio for his Senate seat. Her victory would have been a long shot, but it still seemed to make Rubio visibly nervous. The New York Times later reported that Ivanka had rethought the strategy, and now, we’ve got what amounts to a final confirmation with Trump’s endorsement of Rubio. So far, though, Rubio has said absolutely nothing about this endorsement on Twitter, which says a lot.

(Via The Hill)

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — My curiosity about this is limitless

The thing about the world is that it is big and weird and full of mysteries and the second you think you have any of it figured out in any substantial way it grabs you by the collar and yoinks you into wondrous new uncharted territory. This usually happens for people when they have a life-changing experience, like a brush with death, or when they have their first child, or, sometimes, when they learn a new piece of information that changes everything for them. It happened to me this week. Not the brush with death or the baby. The thing about the new piece of information. The thing, specifically, about Salma Hayek and her fancy pet owl.

Did you know that Salma Hayek had a fancy pet owl? I hope not, because that would mean you learned that fact at some point prior to today and never thought to share it with me. It would mean you read or saw or heard that Salma Hayek had a fancy pet owl and at no point did you think, “Hmm, I should tell Brian about this. I bet he would like to know.” Come on. Come on! Of course I want to know about Salma Hayek and her fancy pet owl. It is, to some degree, the only thing I want to know about, especially now that I’ve started to know about it. I thought we got each other, you and me.

Luckily, for me and for those of you who did not know and have not been keeping this information from me, People Magazine asked Salma Hayek about her fancy pet owl. Or maybe they didn’t and she just started talking about it unprompted. Either way, she is now on the record on the subject. And it makes me so happy. Let’s start at the beginning.

The actress, 54, is the proud mom of an owl named Kering, who she met around two years ago after responding to an advertisement about rescue owls. After researching the work the goes into caring for creatures, Hayek decided to adopt Kering, a southern white-faced owl.

Well, guess what: I love it. Salma Hayek saw an advertisement for rescue owls and researched how to care for them and just went ahead and got one. This raises a few questions, including but not limited to:

Where does one see advertisements for rescue owls?

Have you ever seen an advertisement for rescue owls?

How would you react if you saw an advertisement about rescue owls?

Do you think this was like a targeted ad she got while cruising around online?

What kind of other targeted ads do you think Salma Hayek gets, presuming, as I have now chosen to do, that this was one of them?

How does one research how to care for an owl?

Do you just, like, Google it?

We should read on.

“I gave it to my husband as a Valentine’s present and named her Kering because that’s the name of his company and their symbol of the owl,” Hayek says in PEOPLE’s 2021 Beautiful Issue, on newsstands Friday, of when Kering the owl and her husband, François-Henri Pinault, first met. “And he was like, ‘Well, thank you, but I know this is your own present for yourself.’”

Okay, a few more questions:

What would you do if your spouse got you an owl you didn’t ask for on Valentine’s Day?

Like, what if you got them some nice clothes and a thoughtful gift or maybe a nice watch or some jewelry and then they said, “Wait right here, I’m going to go get your present” and then they went into the next room and they were gone a while — like, a while — and they came back and they said, “Surprise!” and they had a freaking owl perched on their wrist?

Probably the same thing Salma Hayek’s husband did, right?

I think it would help to see this owl. Let’s go to People Magazine’s Instagram page to look at the promotional photo that accompanied the story.

Okay, yes, that is definitely an owl. For a second there I was wondering if they meant a different kind of owl, or if there even was a different kind of owl. I thought maybe I had a break with reality and just forgot what the word owl meant. But no, definitely a real, whole, entire owl, just chilling out with Salma Hayek.

And this, somehow, is where it all got weird because this is where Salma Hayek discussed how the owl will hang out with her friends and perch on the edge of her iPad while she reads. And that gets us to this part.

Celebrity best friends and iPads aren’t the only things that set Kering apart from other birds. She is more “curious” the most owls, according to Hayek, and has an unusual but “good” sense of taste.

“Even though owls don’t drink liquids because they take everything from their prey, she likes good wine, this one,” the star says.

Okay, again, a few questions:

Does Salma Hayek get drunk with an owl?

Is that what this is implying?

It seems like it’s what this is implying, right?

Do you think it’s strange that Salma Hayek just casually tossed in that thing about how owls “take everything from their prey”?

Does Salma Hayek let her owl out at night to hunt?

Is that another thing we’re supposed to take from this?

That Salma Hayek’s owl sips some fine wine and then goes out to hunt inferior mammals like some sort of supervillain?

And even if not, just to circle back, and I really want you to think hard about this one, what would you do if you walked into a room — any room, doesn’t matter — and international movie star Salma Hayek was sitting there reading from an iPad that had an owl perched on it and the owl was dunking its beak into her glass of wine?

Take as long as you need on that last one. I’ve been going for a solid week now.

Kering also enjoys getting cozy with Hayek and can often be found “on my head or my shoulder, my arms. Sometimes, when she is really close to me, I can feel her rubbing against me, which is really nice. And I feel so blessed.”

I need a movie starring Salma Hayek and this owl. I need them to solve crimes together. I will settle for them solving crimes together in real life if we cannot get the funding, but let’s really try here. In my dream scenario, they’re avenging the death of a famous wildlife conservationist who was murdered by evil fossil fuel tycoons and the owl is always a little tipsy and is voiced by Tracy Morgan and maybe wears a little Sherlock Holmes hat. I would watch that movie tonight. I would cancel plans to watch that movie, if I had plans, which I do not. I kind of want a pet owl now, too?

I don’t know. I don’t know. This has given all of us so much to consider. Too much, possibly. But again, that’s just how the world works sometimes. Sometimes, when you least expect it, there are fancy wine-sipping owls. I guess that’s the lesson here.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — Welcome to leg chat

We are living through a tremendous period of leg-related social media posts and no one is talking about it. It’s maddening to me, in part because it’s important to recognize when history — real, important history — is being made around you, and in part because it is all I want to discuss every day when I am not thinking about Salma Hayek’s pet owl. Thank God I have this column, this little stupid sandbox to get these things out into the world, because otherwise, I’d be out on the sidewalk yelling about legs to passing cars. To be fair, I could use the sun.

But back to legs. The Rock posted that image on his Instagram this week and sweet rippling heavens, look at the man’s thighs. I can’t tell if he’s wearing shorts with a one-inch inseam or if that’s his underwear and his pants leaped off his body in terror and ran away. His veins look like little snakes swimming around under his skin. He appears to have muscles over his kneecaps, which is not something I thought could happen. Until provided with indisputable evidence to the contrary, it is the position of this column that The Rock could probably squat the moon.

There are two important takeaways here:

• This is as good an excuse as you could ever ask for to go read or re-read Caity Weaver’s 2017 GQ profile of The Rock, in which she describes his leggings clinging to his calves as “like nightfall descending over a mountain range” and says his firing triceps are “like captive wild horses that have finally been set free,” which are both so good that I’m now embarrassed I even tried to use words to describe his muscles.
• It was somehow not even the best leg-related social media post in the last couple of weeks

No, that honor goes to this tweet from the official Twitter account for Better Call Saul.

Do you see it? What am I saying? Of course, you see it. How could anyone not? Look to the far left of the shot.

Look at Tony Dalton giving the camera the full-on Lalo Salamanca charm.

Look at that smile.

Look at that shirt.

LOOK AT THAT ANKLE.

He legitimately has more charisma in the area between his foot and shin than most people possess in their entire bodies. It’s obscene. It’s captivating. It’s one of the many reasons Lalo Salamanca is the best villain in any currently airing television series, and it’s one of the main reasons I need the show back in my life as soon as possible. I am at most a week away from cropping him out of this picture and printing up 500 t-shirts with him on them and going back out to that sidewalk to sell them to pedestrians. I am barely kidding.

Couple this with Milo Ventimiglia’s shorts and Christopher Meloni’s hams and this is shaping up to be an iconic summer for the lower body. The world needs it. To heal.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — Mythic Quest is, of course, very good

Ted Lasso captured the world’s heart last year, which is both fine and good, because Ted Lasso is awesome. But there’s another Apple comedy series that is awesome, and it bugs me a little bit that it’s living in the shadow of Jason Sudeikis’s mustache. That show is Mythic Quest. You would love Mythic Quest. It’s from a chunk of the It’s Always Sunny creative team and it stars Rob McElhenney and it features Danny Pudi from Community. The first season followed the development of a new video game and it was so good. It was funny and heartfelt and featured a surprise Jake Johnson and Cristin Milioti appearance and its one-off episode about quarantine was one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever seen. I wrote a huge thing about it. And I got to shout “Go Birds” at fellow Philadelphia Eagles fan Rob McElhenney over the phone at the end of the interview, which was maybe not the most professional moment of my career, but whatever, you only get one go-round in life. I stand by it.

Anyway, I bring this up now because Mythic Quest is dropping another one-off episode next week in advance of its second season premiere in May.

In “Everlight,” the creative team, once again, presents a relatable subject that people all over the world are currently facing — the return to offices and co-workers. In addition to the award-winning returning ensemble cast, special guest star Academy Award winner Sir Anthony Hopkins (“Silence of the Lambs,” “The Father”) lends his voice to the episode. This new, half-hour special episode finds the team behind the biggest multiplayer video game of all-time returning to the office for their annual Everlight party, with Poppy and Ian rigging a LARP (Live Action Role-Play) tournament in an underdog’s favor.

“‘Everlight’ is a special episode that addresses the practical and emotional difficulties of returning to normalcy,” said McElhenney. “It’s full of hope and joy and optimism for a bright future. Ahead of our upcoming second season, we felt it was the perfect way (and the perfect time) to invite the audience back into the world of ‘Mythic Quest.’”

This is very important to me. I’m excited. Maybe too excited. This show is so damn good and hopeful and funny and mean and happy. Charlotte Nicdao, who plays the game’s lead developer, Poppy, gives an incredible comic performance straight through. You have enough time to binge the first season before this special episode drops on the 16th. You definitely have enough time to binge all of it before the second season starts. Do that. Do something nice for yourself. You’ve probably earned it.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — On the subject of Daniel Craig doing silly Southern accents…

Let’s get the timely news in all of this out of the way fast so I can yell at you some more. Knives Out is the best. It is filled with cool twists and terrific performances and I almost spent $300 on a sweater after watching it. And we’re about to get more of it, as the creative team reached a deal with Netflix for two more sequels. Here, look:

But on March 31, in a twist worthy of Agatha Christie, came the reveal that Lionsgate would not be releasing the sequel at all. Instead, two sequels would be made by Netflix, which inked a dagger-driving $469 million deal with Johnson and his producing partner at T-Street, Ram Bergman, both of whom are represented by CAA.

Deal points were noteworthy: The pact gave Johnson immense creative control, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. He doesn’t have to take notes from the streamer. The only contingencies were that Craig must star in the sequels and that each must have at least the budget of the 2019 movie, which was in the $40 million range. Sources say that Johnson, Bergman and Craig stand to walk away with upward of $100 million each.

Fantastic. Pay them all. Daniel Craig deserves $100 million for his delivery of the donut hole monologue alone. But please, when you’re running around discussing movies in which Daniel Craig does kind of silly Southern accents, do not forget about Logan Lucky. Logan Lucky rules so hard. It’s got everything. It’s got Channing Tatum and Adam Driver playing brothers. It’s got an elaborate heist that goes sideways. It was directed by heistmaster Steven Soderbergh. It features the best use of the song “Country Roads” by John Denver that does not also feature the phrase “Here’s the situation.” Everything.

But most relevant to the discussion here, it’s got Daniel Craig as a hillbilly explosives expert named Joe Bang. Behold Joe Bang.

Go watch this, too. It’s a perfect, highly rewatchable movie, and it’s currently just sitting there on Hulu. Make two sequels of this movie. Only make movies where Daniel Craig talks like Foghorn Leghorn. Cast him in Fast 10 as an evil tobacco magnate. Bring him back for another Bond movie but give him a fake mustache and a cowboy hat and have him play an American spy from Georgia named Tex Carolina who assists the next Bond on a mission. See what I care.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — This is my favorite show now

James Wolk is an American treasure. This is not in dispute, for reasons we’ll discuss later, but also for reasons we’ll discuss now. This reason, to be specific:

Ordinary Joe explores the three parallel lives of the show’s main character (played by Watchmen’s Wolk) after he makes a pivotal choice at a crossroads in his life. The series asks the question of how different life might look if you made your decision based on love, loyalty or passion. Natalie Martinez, Charlie Barnett and Elizabeth Lail co-star. An episode count has not yet been determined.

To be extremely clear, James Wolk is starring in an upcoming network series in which he plays the same character in three alternate universes, one in which he is a nurse, one in which he is a cop, and one in which he is a rock star. This is my favorite show now. It might be my second favorite show ever. And the craziest thing about it is that it is not even the weirdest network television show James Wolk has played the lead in, because James Wolk also starred in my first favorite show ever, Zoo. A show where he played a renegade zoologist who was trying to put down an animal revolution. A show in which, for reasons, he pushed a car out of an airplane and into a volcano. A show in which he did this, like the goddamn prince of television he is.

I do this every time he comes up but, I’m sorry, I’m going to do it again. I don’t know why I said I’m sorry just now. I’m not. I’m elated, actually. James Wolk has so many legendary television moments in his resume. He delivered the “squid pro quo” line on Watchmen, for the love of God. He played a fake sexy Elon Musk on Billions and died by blowing up in his own rocket on live television.

HE WAS BOB BENSON ON MAD MEN, FOR PETE’S SAKE.

All the man has done for over a decade now is pop up in either the best or weirdest shows on television and make them a little better and weirder. And now he’s going to play a cop and a nurse and a rock star on the same show on network television. It’s incredible. I hope this show becomes a massive hit. I would feel so much better if I lived in a world where James Wolk bathed in the riches he so deeply deserved. He’s given us — me, at least — so much. It’s the least we can do.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Zach:

What are we thinking about the new Space Jam, Bri-guy? I watched the trailer as soon as it came out and I hated it, but I thought about it later and realized it was probably me being a cranky old man about it. I watched it again with a more open mind the next day and I thought it was fine. Not great, not bad, but fine. Is this me maturing or surrendering to the content overlords? I can’t remember being this confused about a movie. Especially not one aimed at people less than half my age. Tell me how to feel, man.

Let’s get one thing out of the way before we get started here, Zach. I cannot support the nickname “Bri-guy.” I almost didn’t answer the email because of it. This will not do. Please make a note.

Now, in no particular order, via bullet point:

• You are right that it is probably not targeted at you
• You are right now that it’s fine
• It’s a little weird how much intellectual property they slammed into one short trailer, but that’s kind of the point
• There should have been a Space Jam sequel in 2002 or 2003 that starred Allen Iverson and featured him getting sucked into the cartoon world through a hole under the table in a TGI Fridays
• The original Monstars were a poorly constructed basketball team that featured two centers (Shawn Bradley, Patrick Ewing), two power forwards (Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson), and one undersized point guard (Muggsy Bogues), and they might have actually defeated the Tune Squad and altered history if they had instead stolen the talent from a sweet-shooting wing, like a Mitch Richmond or a Glen Rice or maybe even Reggie Miller, which would have been hilarious
• Yes, I think about this a lot

To recap: It’s fine. The soundtrack better be good, though.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To South Korea!

The couple saw brushes and paint cans in front of a paint-splattered canvas at a gallery in a Seoul shopping mall. So they added a few brush strokes, assuming it was a participatory mural.

Oh man, that “assuming” is really doing a lot of work here. I think I see where this is going. I think we all do. But I want to read it. I want them to tell me. Say it.

Say it!

Not quite: The painting was a finished work by an American artist whose abstract aesthetic riffs on street art. The piece is worth more than $400,000, according to the organizers of the exhibition that featured the painting.

Yessssss.

Okay, let me back up. I know this is bad. I know that this artist created something and then people altered it and I know that’s not good. But I love art mishaps. I really do. I loved the time a lady tried to fix the one painting and mangled it beyond recognition. I loved Nora Ephron’s story about billionaire Steve Wynn accidentally smashing his arm through a million-dollar masterpiece. I really loved the time a cop at Temple University told me a big huge modern art sculpture on campus had actually fallen over on its side during a bad wind storm and no one noticed until the artist came back to visit the next year.

Is this because I’m an uncultured swine who doesn’t understand art and therefore subconsciously wants to see it destroyed as a way to knock those pretentious art-knowers off of the stupid pretentious high horses? Uh… perhaps.

Let’s move on.

A few suggest that the incident itself was a form of contemporary art, or that the couple’s abstract brush strokes — three dark-green blotches covering an area about 35 inches by 11 inches — have improved the piece.

Name the entire gallery after this couple, in my opinion.

The couple were arrested but released after the police determined that the vandalism was accidental, the local news media reported. Mr. Kang said the couple told the police that they had thought the artwork was open to public participation.

JAILBIRD: What are you in here for?

THESE PEOPLE: Well, we thought a piece of modern art was actually participatory and so we smeared it with blotches of dark green paint almost at random. But then, and this is where the whole story moves from hilarity to tragedy, we learned the piece was in fact finished and a statement on art itself and we had defaced it entirely through sheer misunderstanding. As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of egg on our faces. And that was before we were taken out of the gallery in handcuffs like a pair of common scoundrels. Our lawyer is clearing it up right now. It will assuredly make for a raucous story at a cocktail party many years from today, once the shame wears and everyone can appreciate the humor of the situation.

JAILBIRD: Huh.

THESE PEOPLE: I’m sorry, here we are blabbering away and being so rude as to not inquire about what brought you to this cell this evening.

JAILBIRD: Murder.

THESE PEOPLE: Ah, yes. Right right.

Julien Kolly, a gallerist in Zurich who specializes in graffiti art and has exhibited JonOne paintings over the years, said that they often prompted strong reactions from viewers.

“Some are full of praise and others think that a child could do better,” he said. “Of course, I am in the first category.”

Ladies and gentlemen, a perfect news story.

After a very long year without live music, it seems like there could finally be a light at the end of the tunnel. Bonnaroo is on the books for September, and Outside Lands is scheduled for late October. On this week’s episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are feeling cautiously optimistic about what the return of these festivals could mean for the live music landscape, as a whole.

With festivals scheduled for the fall, many artist teams are also feeling confident in the touring landscape for the latter months of 2021. Julien Baker and Japanese Breakfast have both shared routings for the fall, and Pavement is also rumored to be announcing a 2022 tour sometime in the near future. However, the question still remains: will there be any reluctance from fans to get back together in large groups, or will people just be rearing to go?

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Hyden is shouting out Chicago band Floatie, who dropped their debut album Voyage Out last month. Cohen is excited about Dream Weapon, the new album from New York experimental metal band Genghis Tron, and the quartet’s first release in 13 years.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 34 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

On a virtual master class with Chapman University’s Dodge College this week, filmmaker Bong Joon-ho discussed the rise in violence against Asian-Americans. “I’m far away in Korea and I have to see everything in the news from an outsider’s perspective, but as someone who is a part of mankind, as a person, it’s quite fearful to watch the hate crimes against Asian-Americans and the BLM movement,” the Parasite writer and director said, speaking through a translator. “I do think about what the film industry can do at this time. With films, creating a film takes a lot of time and a lot of money; it’s a big unit that can’t really respond quickly to issues that are currently happening in society.”

Bong wants more filmmakers to “be bolder with dealing with issues and they shouldn’t be afraid to confront them,” like Spike Lee did with Do the Right Thing. “That film came out in 1989; it was three years before the LA Riots but almost predicted the riots were going to happen,” he said. “I think that’s the role creators and artists can play, not necessarily to predict what will happen in society, but to use your insight to portray the issues that are currently boiling underneath the surface of society that can explode later on.”

With Parasite, Bong “tried to take that approach,” as the Best Picture winner “talks about the haves and have-nots of our current society. It began with a question of ‘what does it mean to be poor or rich in our current times?’ As creators and artists, you sort of have to see through the essence and the central questions in our society through the days that you live through and send a reply to those questions through your work.”

It’s good advice, especially from someone who wakes up at 5 a.m. (!) every day.

(Via Deadline)

Today marks the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the first of Taylor Swift’s newly re-recorded albums. The whole thing has been a meaningful process for Swift, which she wrote about in a new letter about the album.

The CD edition of the album comes with a “Prologue” letter that Swift penned and now fans have shared it online. She emotionally addresses the connection she has with her fans, beginning:

“When I think back on the Fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face. This was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed. So before I say anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. And for those of you I’ve come to know more recently than 2008, I am ecstatic that I get to experience a bit of that feeling with you now that I can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.”

She goes on to conclude, “This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music. I hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it.”

Check out the full letter below.

“When I think back on the Fearless album and all that you turned it into, a completely involuntary smile creeps across my face. This was the musical era in which so many inside jokes were created between us, so many hugs exchanged and hands touched, so many unbreakable bonds formed. So before I say anything else, let me just say that it was a real honor to get to be a teenager alongside you. And for those of you I’ve come to know more recently than 2008, I am ecstatic that I get to experience a bit of that feeling with you now that I can fully appreciate it in its whimsical, effervescent, chaotic entirety.

Fearless was an album full of magic and curiosity, the bliss and devastation of youth. It was the diary of the adventures and explorations of a a teenage girl who was learning tiny lessons with every new crack in the facade of the fairytale ending she’d been shown in the movies. I’m thrilled that my new version of Fearless is with you now. This is Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and it includes 27 songs.

I’ve spoken a lot about why I’m remaking my first six albums, but the way I’ve chosen to do this will hopefully help illuminate where I’m coming from. Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really *knows* that body of work. For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the Fearless album. Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons (don’t want too many breakup songs, don’t want too many down tempo songs, can’t fit that many songs on a physical CD).

Those reasons seem unnecessary now. I’ve decided I want you to have the whole story, see the entire vivid picture, and let you into the entire dreamscape that is my Fearless album. That’s why I’ve chosen to include 6 never before released songs on my version of this album. Written when I was between the ages of 16 and 18, these were the ones it killed me to leave behind.

This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could’ve imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music. I hope you’ll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it.

Sincerely and Fearlessly,
Taylor.”

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) is out now via Republic Records. Get it here.

We go to our local grocery stores to buy food to eat, plain and simple. We go to Trader Joe’s to buy the foods we gotta have but can’t find anywhere else. The sampling, the comparing, the wine selection, the quirky names — it’s almost a form of recreation.

You can search the produce section for onions and apples and bags of pre-made salads at Trader Joe’s, just like any other grocery chain. And, yup, they’ve got your various cuts of chicken, beef, and fish there, too. But any true TJ’s aficionado will tell you that there are some fire items at the store that you’ll never find at your neighborhood Kroger or Ralphs.

Like those cute little packages of frozen garlic squares. Why bother with peeling, chopping, and mincing garlic for yourself when you can just pop a perfectly portioned garlic bite out of the freezer and into your sauté pan? Sure, you can buy jars of the stuff at any grocery store, but why play yourself? You know that flavor is staler — almost pickled — and just not the same.

Since I am that aforementioned TJ’s aficionado (on both the food and wine side of things), I ventured to my nearest location(s) last week to explore the freezer section once again. This time, I looked specifically for the frozen foods that can only be found at Trader Joe’s and nowhere else — from entrees to desserts to that garlic I love so much — re-tasted them and ranked them for your reading pleasure.

What made this whole experience even better? Not a single thing on this list costs more than $8. Let’s get to it!

10. Linguine with Clam Sauce

Average Price: $3

Tasting Notes:

Now here is a pasta that manages to maintain a light and bright profile while remaining hearty and filling. Be sure to follow the cooking instructions to the T, as it’s easy to overcook the pasta. But after about six to eight minutes with the fire on high, the noodles maintain their desired al-dente texture.

The clam sauce is the real star of this dish. It has a briny, lemony note hovering in the background that’s smattered with parsley and a little red pepper, but overall it’s the taste of clams fresh out the sea that dominates the flavor. That’s a good thing.

Bottom Line:

What’s great about this dish — beyond the fact that it has all the exuberant salinity of the sea — is that it’s incredibly light, which is a lot to say considering how heavy pasta (particularly sauced frozen pasta) tends to be. It’ll fill you right up without weighing you down after a few bites.

9. Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Butter and Sage

Average Price: $3

Tasting Notes:

Don’t go eating this stuff when you’re on a diet. Its caloric content is HIGH — 250 calories per serving with about three servings-worth in the bag. But all the calories are worth it if you aren’t counting.

This dish is indulgent in every sense of the word. Warm and pillowy, clouds of sugary sweet potatoes (they almost taste candied) get soaked in a butter sauce that is ethereally rich and creamy. All that lustrous flavor gets a velvety, herbal lift from the sage.

Bottom Line:

This puts the comfort in comfort food. You’re definitely going to feel the weight of the gnocchi after consumption, but all that richness and flavor will help ease the food guilt.

8. Spicy Thai Shrimp Fried Rice

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

I have to lead with the spice factor of this frozen dish. A single forkful of this may only zing your mouth a little. If anything, you’ll notice the taste of Thai basil on the first bite. But take a few forkfuls more and feel the well of heat rising in your chest. This fried rice isn’t necessarily the type of spicy you can taste, but rather the type of spicy you can feel.

That’s a good thing — by the time you’re done, your body heat index will have gone from zero to 100, real quick!

Now I can’t lie. TJ’s is slacking on the shrimp quantity in this dish. There are only about 10 pieces of little baby shrimp included. But the mounds of veggies —baby corn, onion, green peas, carrot, green onion, flat basil leaves, garlic, and ginger— make up for it. And man, the red Thai chili peppers mixed throughout really just amplify the flavor.

Bonus: The rice in this dish is a smash. Idk how TJ’s does it, but they have their frozen rice game on lock.

Bottom Line:

People are always asking for something they can feel, and my response to that is for them to hit the nearest Trader Joe’s, buy this fried rice, and eat this fried rice. Trust me when I say, you’re gonna feel it.

7. Mushroom Risotto

Average Price: $4

Tasting Notes:

Somehow this bag of frozen food turns into something completely creamy and delicious once it’s heated up. The long-grain white rice doesn’t get mushy from the weight of the sauce. If anything, it supports the earthy, meaty mushroom taste and gives the dish the density it needs to hold everything together.

This isn’t as salty as say, Trader Joe’s Asparagus Risotto, but that’s a good thing. The mushrooms give the dish the savory complexity it needs. It’s a bit bland in color, but little sprinkles of parsley add more visual appeal.

Bottom Line:

This is a filling, completely palatable, dinner-worthy dish. Cook this up on the stove, pour a big glass of chianti to go with it, and thank me when you’re done and fully satisfied.

6. Mandarin Orange Chicken

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

Cook up some rice and throw TJ’s Mandarin Orange Chicken in the oven and you’ll have a complete meal that is sweet and satisfying.

Juicy chicken legs are used for this dish, which is likely why the chicken chunks remain moist on the inside after baking. The breading is crispy and light, seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Once baked in the oven as the packaging instructs, it’s time to coat the boneless chicken pieces in the glossy and citrusy sauce, comprised of real orange peels, garlic, ginger, green onion, and soy sauce.

That’s what gives this frozen food item most of its flavor — the sauce — which is light and balanced with a gingery sweetness and a faint kick of spice.

Bottom Line:

This orange chicken is nearly as good as takeout. And takeout orange chicken is great.

5. Thai Shrimp Gyoza

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

Steam ‘em. Bake ‘em. Pan fry ‘em. Throw ‘em in the microwave if you’re bout that life. Whatever way you make Trader Joe’s Thai Shrimp Gyoza, you’re bound to enjoy them because these Thai-style dumplings are really just that great.

The bag full of Gyoza is stuffed with real lumps of shrimp and veggies like white cabbage, chives, green onion, and garlic, but there is a gingery element to the potstickers that’s noticeable in the bite too. All that blends together for a completely savory snack that is totally filling.

Even the dough for these flash-frozen dumplings has a nice texture that is firm and not too chewy once cooked. Dip and dunk them in sauce as you please — these dumplings are thick enough to bear the weight of the contents inside and multiple splashings of soy sauce.

Bottom Line:

You really can’t beat frozen dumplings that maintain quality in flavor and texture once cooked. And you can’t find dumplings like those virtually anywhere else.

4. Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

This ain’t ya half-gallon carton of cookie dough ice cream. In fact, there are no actual globs of cookies in this ice cream at all. What you get instead—and trust me when I say you’ll appreciate this much more—is swirls of cookie butter that marble the rich and sweet ice cream. The cream to cookie ratio is so on-point, you’ll have to work to scoop out a spoonful that doesn’t include a balanced portion of both ingredients.

Overall, the ice cream smells of vanilla beans, sugar, and cookie batter. But the ice cream itself is simple — not dry and hard like some ice creams can be, but not so creamy that it melts easily. It’s luscious with a dense enough texture to hold the weight of the cookie butter whirling throughout. And while the actual vanilla-based ice cream plays the background role, allowing the buttery, cinnamon, and clove flavors to really stand out, the whole desert melds together in perfect harmony.

It’s worth noting that this ice cream isn’t overly sweet. You can enjoy quite a few spoonfuls without feeling hyped up on sugar. For me, that’s a win.

Bottom Line:

This stuff is a fan-favorite for many TJs shoppers. The reason why is clearly in its taste and price point.

3. Crushed Garlic

Average Price: $3

Tasting Notes:

Trader Joe was obviously thinking about those of us who just don’t have the time when he started slanging frozen crushed garlic. Bless him!

This package basically consists of fresh garlic that has been crushed and frozen into little cubes in a miniature ice tray. They come in handy whenever you need to add a little bit of garlic and don’t feel like going through the hassle of peeling, chopping, crushing, or mincing.

The best part about these little babies is that every cube maintains its fresh garlic taste for days — even weeks! — in the freezer, unlike jarred minced garlic which is okay when you first open it but loses its piquancy after a few days opened in the fridge.

Bottom Line:

Save yourself some time with meal prep, and simplify your home cooking with these little frozen garlic cubes.

2. Mushroom Ravioli with Truffle

Average Price: $4

Tasting Notes:

Ravioli noodles that maintain their freshness, texture, and taste after unthawing over medium heat in a pan? Check. A decadent blend of mushrooms and ricotta that is fully flavorful but doesn’t overwhelm the actual ravioli? Double-check. A thick and creamy, rich sauce that is swimming with morsels of porcini and champignon mushrooms and truffle oil flavor you can not only smell but taste? Triple check.

Do I really need to say more? Seriously, editor, do I?

Bottom Line:

This is definitely one of the better pasta dishes at Trader Joe’s. It delivers on rich, earthy decadence and quality. Cook this up when you’re pressed for time, and I swear you’ll fool houseguests with it.

1. Seafood Paella

Average Price: $5

Tasting Notes:

I am truly amazed that Trader Joe’s somehow managed to capture the freshness of seafood paella, bag it up, freeze it and maintain all its original flavors while it essentially unthaws and heats up in a pan, covered, on high heat for a few minutes. Truly, I am blown tf away.

The rice is pearly and delectable. You’d never guess it was in a freezer bag mixed with a generous portion of baby shrimp, mussels, and ribbons of squid, peas, red and yellow and green peppers, and onion. It’s all seasoned to perfection with spices like paprika and saffron, which coats and colors the bomba rice nicely.

Bottom Line:

Obviously, this doesn’t come close to what you’d get in Spain. Please understand that. But this is pretty damn good freezer-section paella. In fact, I’ve never had better.

It’s virtually impossible to talk about HBO’s upcoming fantasy series The Nevers without also addressing the accusations against and subsequent departure of its showrunner, Joss Whedon. So we won’t. In fact, we’ll get the peripheral elephant out of the room first.

HBO picked up Whedon’s original idea for what amounts to a Victorian steampunk take on the X-Men universe back in 2018 after a lengthy bidding war saw the creator come out on top with a cushy deal before the pilot had even been filmed. Fast-forward to 2020 and the news that Whedon would be taking a step back from the project – his first TV series in a decade – due to exhaustion while trying to film during a pandemic. That announcement also came after actor Ray Fisher accused Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on the set of Justice League – a film he took over directing when Zack Snyder was forced to leave after a family tragedy.

An internal Warner Brothers investigation would follow and though the only real justice Fisher would find would come with his role being restored in the Snyder Cut, his courage to speak out prompted others who had worked with Whedon in the past to do the same – most notably Charisma Carpenter and the casts and crews of Whedon’s mega-popular Buffy universe.

So now, here we are with another Hollywood heavyweight rightly exiled from – or at least temporarily kicked out – of the writer’s room on a show that HBO hopes might fill its Game of Thrones sized programming void. On paper, it’s got that kind of potential.

Starring Laura Donnelly as Amalia True and Ann Skelly as Penance Adair – two perfectly capable, kick-ass women who just happen to have extra-ordinary abilities – the show gives us a glimpse into Victorian Era London a few years after a mysterious event imbues some of the most oppressed in society with powers, or “Turns” as they’re called in the series. While Amalia and Penance run an orphanage that serves as a refuge for these “Touched” individuals, they also undertake a larger mission – to figure out why their kind were chosen and, more importantly, what for.

It’s the kind of small-screen epic that would once constitute event-viewing, one that now, in the streaming era, should play even better – a fantastical escape filled with intricate world-building, complex characters, and corsets. Lots of corsets. But the specter of Whedon puts its expected success in doubt, so whether it’s fair or not, Donnelly and Skelly (along with the rest of the cast) have been fielding more questions about their former boss than they should have to.

We chatted with the stars about what drew them to the project, why they’re excited for audiences to unfold its central mystery, and yes, the Joss Whedon of it all.

There’s so much fantasy world-building going on that I was a bit surprised at how much the friendship between Penance and Amalia is really the heart of the show. Liking each other that much must’ve been so tough to fake on camera.

Laura: [laughs] It was the worst!

Ann: I make it very difficult for Laura.

Laura: No, I think that the dynamic that we have in real life is very similar to the dynamic that Penance and Amalia have anyway. We’re not totally dissimilar to our individual characters, and so I don’t know how much of our natural selves and our friendship we’ve brought into the roles and how much the roles have informed how we get along in real life, but the fusion has happened and I’m finding it difficult to draw the boundary.

Ann: Yeah. I don’t know if it’s chicken or egg. she’s just so cool as well. Her and Amalia have that in common.

It’s a bit out-of-the-norm too to have two female leads who are complete opposites in some ways, not only share screen time in a prestige network drama – but actually get along and not be rivals in some way.

Laura: Certainly from an actor’s point of view, you don’t expect to get a complex female lead role in a show of this size, by any means. They very, very rarely come along. But to get one that is working alongside yet another completely different complex female character, that in itself felt like such a special thing that I knew I had to be part of it. In terms of the approach for us, I mean, that was done for us through the writing. Those characters are cared for so much by the writers. They were very determined that they wanted not one, not two, but many brilliant female and male fleshed-out characters.

Ann: I love that none of the characters feel like a plot device. They’re all representative, they feel like different types of characters and personalities [you’d find] in real life.

Do we know exactly why these people were chosen to receive these abilities after the “event”?

Laura: I think that it’s not a huge spoiler to say that it’s mainly the people who do not have a voice in society who have been given this [power], or certainly those that are not members of the established order. There is a plan there, of sorts, to ensure that these people find their place in the world and start to be heard.

Ann: What I think is really interesting as well is not every single person who feels powerless in their lives or is powerless in society receives a “Turn.” Kind of reminds me of that HBO series, The Leftovers. Random people just disappeared from one world. Even now, I wonder if a part of it is slightly random, or does it have an intention behind it? I just … God, why am I wondering this aloud to myself?

Someone at HBO, please fill Ann in.

Ann: Please tell me what’s happening. Yeah, I do. I wonder, does it allude to a greater plan for these specific people.

I think there can be an undue burden place on women to talk about the behavior of their male peers in Hollywood, so instead of asking about working with Joss Whedon, I want to know if either of you is worried his name might overshadow this show?

Laura: Well, thank you for saying that because of course that is a concern — that something that is not the show might overshadow the show. We are so intensely proud of this show. I mean, I broke the habit of a lifetime and watched the episodes and I’ve never watched anything. But because of what I saw in post-production when I was doing voiceover stuff, I was just so impressed, I thought, ‘I think I can brave watching this.’ And when I watched it, I was so blown away by everybody’s performances and by everything that I knew was going on behind the scenes with all of the crew. I mean the work that hundreds and hundreds of people have put into this, quite literally blood, sweat, and tears for the last two years of their lives.

We like to attach success to one name, one face but with TV especially, it takes an army to get something like this made.

Laura: It has been a hugely collaborative experience. And TV is always a very collaborative experience. I think more so with this, with the challenges that we’ve faced with COVID, with the scale, the size of this production and this story, and the fact that every cast member, every crew member is really at the top of their game, just makes me think that this is something intensely special. And I don’t want anybody to miss that because there’s other stuff going on. I think that we have a wonderful female showrunner, Philippa Goslett, and she has amazing ideas for how the next half of this first season is going to go. I’m really, really excited to get involved with her and to do that. I want this to run and run because I think not only are we telling an amazingly entertaining, fascinating, complex story, but I think it’s also really important for here and now. I think that there’s a lot to be gained from it in our society.

Do you get the feeling there are changes ahead in terms of the story now that you have a new showrunner?

Ann: I’m not worried about the quality or the tone or anything like that changing. The things that people will love about the show from episodes one through six, will be continued on in the hands of Philippa and her amazing writing staff, who we’ve gotten to meet on Zoom and actually talk to and get to hear from the source of where the ideas come from, which is just really cool. It feels like it’s a continuation of that collaborative process in that very transparent way that the show has been operated. That’s very unique. Sometimes actors aren’t trusted with all the information but with this, we’re seen as equal employees, and that’s really, really affected how it feels to show up to work every day. It feels like we’re all doing it together. I’ve spoken before about how intensely positive my entire experience has been and I think Phillipa [will] continue that. I’m not worried about the show at all in her hands.

Well, speaking of information, are you both as in the dark as I am about this mysterious event and specifically Amalia’s connection to it.

Laura: Not so much.

Dammit, Laura. What do you know?!

Laura: [laughs] As Ann says, this has been a really transparent process for us from day one. It’s really unusual. Even when I went to my very first meeting before I got the part, I was told all the secrets. It’s crazy. It’s like, somebody should have had me signing something before I went in that room. It was essential to my playing Amalia that I knew a lot about her that the audience doesn’t know at the moment. But in terms of where the next six episodes go, we’ve had meetings with the writer’s room and they have certainly told me about the emotional arc and they’ve told me about the points as they have plotted so far.

That has been massively beneficial, to me anyway, as an actor, being trusted with all the information, being allowed to see scripts, even when they’re not entirely finished. All of those things really helped me play the part. I find the more I know of the process, the more I know of how certain things came about, even if they get changed down the line, it really helps me tell the story better. So I love that Philippa and the writers’ room are trusting us with that.

Ann: I think maybe as you watch it, you feel like there are a lot of questions and mysterious things that will satisfyingly get answered later on, so I love that confidence the show puts in the audience. And I think it’s really cool that there’s Amalia and Penance at the heart of it, that friendship that you can invest in and you can trust these two people as you go along watching the show. Philippa has let us in on the different options and the different arguments being made within the writers’ room of where to continue to take the story and the characters. I think that says a lot. The story’s in safe hands.

‘The Nevers’ debuts via HBO and HBO Max on April 11.